Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Book Town's Fall Reading List 2014
















In her independent efforts to catch child killers, Emily Stone discovers the evidence that the cops can’t — or won’t — uncover. Now, this covert investigator is back on the hunt for the world’s most sick and twisted murderers. But even with help from ex-police detective Rick Lopez, this time she’s facing her most dangerous opponent yet. The headlines in the San Jose Mercury News blare updates on a serial killer who seems able to slaughter with impunity. Men, women — it doesn’t matter; the victims serve only to satisfy a perverted need to kill. The killer watches the moment of death on multiple computer screens, over and over again. The only connection is that they’re all devotees of the latest video-game craze — a sophisticated brain-puzzler called EagleEye. When the killer goes after Lopez’s law-enforcement mentor, Lopez and Stone decide to give the cops a little extra, unsolicited help. What follows takes them deep inside a shocking high-tech world, a kind of social-networking community for serial killers. But when they start getting too close to the truth, all hell’s going to break loose. Now, Stone and Lopez become the killer’s next target as Stone must make a difficult decision to leave the ones she loves in an all-or-nothing effort for survival. Can they stay alive long enough to blow the whistle on this unlikely perpetrator? 2010 AWARD WINNER for Thriller at Readers Favorite Here is a Treat for HISTORICAL FICTION fans as well as those who are fascinated by late 19th century and early 20th century historical events in both Texas and OKLAHOMA. This Historical novel is loosely based on a true life story of a brave Oklahoman from the mid 1880's to 1955. This dramatic story also showcases the strugles and intermarriage of an American cowboy and an American Indian. Dobyns Chronicles is a captivating celebration of the life of Charlie Dobyns. His life began in northeast Texas near Bonham, on the Red River. His Cherokee mother and cowboy father strove to survive on their river valley ranch. Tragedy ended this way of life for Charlie in 1888. Follow him through Chickasaw Territory and on to McAlester in eastern Oklahoma. This is a story of a changing way of life and adaptations made to survive. Charlie's strong passion for life and dignity equipped him for survival as he raised his siblings with, likeability and dignity. It's a story of loss, misfortune, hard times and heartbreak, but also love, determination, kindness, joy and spirituality. Follow Charlie's life through the adventures that shaped the man he became, and that of his family for generations. 

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     Shortly after the remains of a teenaged boy are unearthed on newly acquired Twin Lakes property, Lydia Krause has a worrisome conversation with her elderly neighbor. Daniel Korman hints at having known the dead boy and wonders if, after all this time, he should let sleeping dogs lie. Then Daniel dies under suspicious circumstances, and Lydia suspects that his two surviving childhood friends are responsible for both deaths. Or did one of Daniel’s money-hungry relatives decide to end his life? As the murders and assaults mount, Lydia is drawn further and further into Daniel Korman’s world. And, as if things weren't bad enough, her budding relationship with Detective Sol Molina is seriously compromised as she seeks answers in what Sol considers his professional arena. Can Lydia keep her relationship intact while uncovering the true killer?  

The Darcy Farthing cruise adventure continues with Currents of Vengeance, a visually and emotionally rich story of personal greed and desperation set on an exquisite state-of-the-art luxury cruise ship and in beautifully historic South American seaports. Plots and subplots abound in a delicious blend of fiction and fact, brought to life with vivid descriptions and characters. This novel explores the timely and all-too-real issues of crime, terrorism, and legal justice in international waters. In this sequel to Currents Deep and Deadly, Darcy Farthing is home in Colorado adjusting to the press coverage of their ill-fated South American cruise on the Sea Nymph and the success of her budding writing career. She is juggling her work at Schrinden Pharmaceuticals with trying to understand boyfriend Mick Clayton's mysterious depression and anxiety, which apparently relate to the life-threatening wound he suffered on the cruise. Darcy wonders what has happened to their romance, which blossomed a year ago on the ship, but now seems to have fizzled. To make matters worse, her "new" daughter, Rachael, is encouraging Darcy's unexpected attraction to her successful and wealthy travel industry executive ex-husband, Brooks Larkin. In a surprising turn of events, one year after their horrific cruise adventure, Darcy and Rachael agree to accompany Mick and now-unemployed Tom Smythe, once the chief of security on the Sea Nymph, on a second cruise around South America. This time, Mick and Tom have teamed up to conduct a joint GAO-FBI congressional investigation of the serious issue of unprosecuted crimes committed on cruise ships. They plan to use the project as a means to find evidence linking Paul Denezza, a ruthless Las Vegas casino owner, to the violence on the previous cruise. Instead of the relaxing vacation Darcy expects, she and her travel companions encounter more violence and madness when currents remaining from the first cruise rise to the surface threatening to pull them under. They soon realize that once again, the World of Seas Cruise Line cannot protect them when crimes on and off the ship become much too personal. Before this voyage is over, Mick's emotional crisis nearly ends his life, Tom faces a surprising attacker with a bizarre weapon, and young Rachael experiences tragic violence that changes her life forever. A series of dangerous encounters reveals a quirky cast of psychologically flawed passengers who are intent on seeking revenge against Darcy, her travel companions, and the cruise line.


When Tyler, a Wall Street fund manager, comes to Dallas to attend his father's birthday party he finds his father murdered and a family member is the prime suspect, a series of murders and an intriguing story follows as Tyler goes on a crusade to find the killer as he loses his job, girlfriend and comes close to kissing his own death.  (This book has been re-edited by a professional editor.) Following the deaths of her husband, Corey, and ten year old daughter Ellie in a traffic accident, author Abby Miller sinks ever deeper into depression. She contemplates suicide as a way to be with them, and to end her unrelenting pain. In a last desperate effort to find peace, she drives to Loon Lake where they last vacationed together, wanting to believe they will be waiting for her there. At least in spirit. Barring that, the pills Doctor Gregory gave her to help her sleep, are in her purse. The cabin at Loon Lake was her and Corey’s secret hideaway, and not even Abby’s sister, Karen, to whom she is close, knows where it is. But someone else does. He is one of three men who have escaped from Pennington prison. They are dangerous predators who will stop at nothing to get what they want - and to keep from going back to prison. Having already committed the worst of crimes, they have nothing to lose. Unknowingly, Abby is on a collision course with evil itself. And the decision of whether to live or die will soon be wrenched from her hands.

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Amateur sleuth Annie Tillery has been warned to stay away from Nevshehir, Turkey, where she is heading to meet her boyfriend, Ty Egan, and Cedric Zeeks, Ty's best friend. Intent on helping the two excavate an archeological site where they hope to link human remains to the first African ancestors, Annie does her best to shakes her foreboding feelings as her plane lands in Istanbul and she prepares to embark on her next adventure. But when a stranger claims he is there to pick her up and then disappears once he sees Ty, Annie is immediately thrown back into worry mode-especially after Ty tells her there is unexplained tension surrounding the dig and she receives a threatening note at the hotel. Still, as the three head to Nevshehir, Annie is buoyed by the excitement surrounding ancient Turkey and the possibility of uncovering secrets. The dig is plagued by accidents and theft, however, and the three friends, assisted by the head archeologist's twins, must search the ancient city of Istanbul and the caves of fantastic Cappadocia to find who is sabotaging their work. In this young adult thriller, detective Annie Tillery must once again walk on a dangerous path in an attempt to unravel a complicated mystery and solve the secrets in the fairy chimneys.

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Sugar Babe Beanblossom and Daisy Marie Hazelhurst are lifelong friends, sharing happy and sad times, enjoying outrageous antics, and enduring hot flashes. When Daisy gets sick, Sugar Babe encourages and protects her friend, and DRIVING MISS DAISY takes on a whole new meaning.


Stories that shatter the myths of stereotypical islands of paradise; a rewrite and expansion of the novel, “The Tropics,” where two women fall prey to nature's wrath during inclement tropical weather, face death at sea, and are tested to the limits of survival. In “Promises,” during the late 1960s, the ketch, Mercy, sinks during a sea storm off Culebra near the Virgin Islands. Ciara Malloy assumes custody of her drowned fiancé’s son and learns a devastating secret about the boy that changes her life forever. In “Adrift,” in the late 1990s, underwater photographer Lillian Avery gets caught in a rip current and swept out to sea off Kauai in Hawaii. In facing death, she finds a way to leave a message behind. Years later, in “Reunion,” the two former neighbors from Puerto Rico reunite on Kauai. A hurricane wreaks island-wide havoc. Ciara is missing, presumed dead. Among the rubble, Lillian finds Ciara’s memoirs; a life history that threatens to expose secrets tightly held since the sinking of the Mercy.

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On an early morning paddle, Agapé Jones' outrigger team finds a body in the water off Maui, thrusting him into unexpected danger. Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, is asked to act as special investigator in the murder of famous surfer Philip Fowler, the son of Hawaii State Senator Thomas Fowler. The assignment takes Agapé to the North Shore of Oahu where he discovers that he’s investigating more than just a murder. The young man had no enemies, and Agapé is frustrated by little evidence and few possible suspects. Agapé enjoys exercising his old skills, but he misses his wife, Gerry. He encounters several people who become more than acquaintances, and in the end, discovers the truth. Murder in Paradise allows readers to discover the answers along with the detective while experiencing a virtual trip to the real Paradise that is Hawaii. High in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles, grisly murders are taking place. On each of the victim's bodies a note is left for L.A. Sheriff's detective, Gabriel McRay. The killer's identity is locked in the suppressed memory of a horrifying trauma from Gabriel's own childhood. Teamed with his forensic pathologist girlfriend and his pyschiatrist, Gabriel runs two parallel investigations. The first: a dark journey into the terrifying recollections of his past and the second, the hunt for a serial killer who seems to know more about Gabriel... than he knows himself. A psychic leaves her a present—but is it a blessing or a curse? When Mandy Ruhe receives a sacred amulet from a mysterious woman she’s never met, she is suddenly swept back in time to Texas 1845 and wakes up in the body of Carmena Luebber, owner of the Holiday Ranch. Until she can return to her own time, Mandy must assume Carmena’s role. As she endeavors to discover why she was sent into the past, Mandy is caught up in the lives of the people who work for Carmena—their struggles, hopes, and dreams—and ends up torn between the two men in love with the woman she portrays. But Mandy is forced to admit that she can’t have either one of them, no matter how much her heart wishes otherwise. Trapped in the past, she must complete an unknown task and return to the present—before she screws up the future. An escaped convict finds refuge as a hired hand on a small farm. But the farm belongs to a deputy sheriff. In this dark tale everybody has an agenda, the fugitive, the sheriff, the sheriff's wife and everybody else in the small town of Ashley. Things in Ashley have to come to a head ...and they do. In a terrible way! "Great!" "A good old-fashioned novel of intrigue and murder." "A dark novel that holds the reader in its grip." College student and art major Samantha Harper has been tracing her family tree for quite some time. Her mother, Rebecca, died when Sam was sixteen and she never talked much about her past. Samantha is thrilled to hear that she will be allowed to research her mother's past for a school assignment. Upon arriving in Rebecca's childhood neighborhood, Sam arranges to have a tour of her mother's grade school. She finds an area inside the school that had been damaged and at first, thinking a ghost was inhabiting the gymnasium, she accidentally crosses over into the year 1975; the year when her mother is in kindergarten. Fascinated and scared at the same time, Sam gets to witness her mother's childhood up front as she inadvertently gets involved in an old case of a young girl's accidental death. Little Josie Baker, a classmate of Sam's mother, died that year inside the school's gymnasium. But, was it an accident? After uncovering the dark secret surrounding Josie's death, Samantha wonders if she'll ever find her way back home where her father and best friend, Josh, have been waiting for her return. Will she return to the present or will she have to live the rest of her life in the past? When Gail Duncan finds herself in her hometown with no memory, it’s unfortunate she’s also dead and more than a little confused. Deciding to stay close to Ryan Davis, the hunky detective investigating her murder, Gail figures she might as well help out with the case. Ryan has other problems beside the recent murder case he’s working. He earned his honorable discharge but the past is still with him. He's used to seeing things in black and white, so just what is it that’s helping him with his investigation and why does his apartment seem a little less lonely? Together Gail and Ryan work on the case and learn about one another, and what they can accomplish, in ways neither had ever dreamed. Gail Duncan believed her purpose for remaining on Earth is to help police detective Ryan Davis find her murderer. But that was before they got to know one another. Maybe they did meet a little late, but that doesn’t seem to be too big an obstacle in supporting one another as he adjusts to civilian life and she… Well, she just adjusts.

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Candra Rosewood seeks to avenge her parent’s death, but in the end becomes someone she only read about in fictional stories. In Birthright, Candra has fallen for her parent’s killer, or so it would seem, Kane Smithe, a vampire whose psyche has caught the lovely Miss Rosewood and chooses her for his own human servant. With four markings before she becomes truly his, her life will never be the same again. It is set in Utica, Illinois, present time, where mystery lies deep within the Rosewood family unbeknownst to Candra and unfolds slowly throughout the story. Head strong, single Candra Rosewood, is at the pinnacle of her life, where things are just beginning to start off beautifully, until news of her parent’s death and no murderer to be found, sends her back home and leaving her to pick up the broken pieces and to start anew, but with one firm resolution, to find the killer herself. She meets up with Kane the first night she is back home and from there, her life becomes one upheaval to the next. Kane stalks and watches her day and night driving Candra to the point where it becomes too much to handle. Half wishing he would go, the other half needing to see him again driving her to the brink of insanity. And what about the locket found in her home. Whose did it belong too, and why, when held in her hand send her back to 1817? It is then that things of her past come to haunt her and beacon her to do the right thing.

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When Serial Killers Terrorize a California Beach Community, One Woman Stands in Their Way Emily Stone doesn’t have a badge. But that hasn’t stopped her from tracking down some of the West’s most dangerous child-killers. Armed with a digital SLR camera, laptop computer and her trusty Beretta, Stone uses her innate gift for detective work to identify the perps — and then anonymously e-mail the evidence to the cops. Now, the hunt for two brazen serial killers on the loose right in her own coastal California town threatens to expose Stone’s identity — unraveling her carefully constructed cover and jeopardizing her life’s work. But when she gets too close to the action, this razor-sharp hunter becomes the hunted. Cooperating with the handsome local police detective could be the only hope for stopping the rampage directed at unsuspecting young women — and saving herself. Can they piece together the clues in time? Compulsion mixes CSI-style investigation with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot and a dose of romance for a keeps-you-guessing, fast-paced and savvy thriller, right up until the shocking finale. When unemployed computer programmer Nan Burton inherits a California beach cottage from her great-great-aunt, she’s delighted. But she’s in for a huge surprise: The house is haunted by the ghost of famous romance writer Max Murdoch (pen name Maxine DuBois) who insists Nan complete his last novel, threatening to keep her from sleeping until she agrees. The ensuing clash pits youth against the long-dead but still egotistical author with humorous and moving results.








Book recommendations by



Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish and the Book Town Team.


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